Protected: Lesson: Your Online Presence

Exercise: Inventory your online presence

Part 1 – Review what you’ve posted on all of your social media accounts – really comb through

• Is the public record you’ve created for yourself exactly what you want it to be now?
• In the accounts section of Twitter, you can request an archive of all your tweets, the rest you can go through all your posts and pics manually
  • Are there any photos that you wouldn’t want an employer to see?
  • Are there any statements in retrospect you wish you hadn’t made? Think about what each post might be saying to a potential voter.
  • Have any of your posts offended others? How do you feel about them now? Know what you said and how you’ll respond if asked.
  • Have you posted private info – home address, phone number, social security information
  • Are there posts you’ve written or retweeted that are simply not accurate?
• If you find posts you want to delete: delete them! TweetDeleter and Twitter Archive Eraser can help. If you’re going back and forth on whether or not to delete it: delete it.
• Even deleted posts will likely exist somewhere.

Part 2 – Privacy settings

• You can and should create public social media and email accounts and be shared widely and openly
• Private accounts should stay private – go into each platform and tighten your privacy settings
  • Audit your friends and followers lists and make some hard choices
  • Invite people to follow your public account to stay in touch and delete them from your private accounts.

Part 3 – Do a deep Google search of your name in quotes

• Set up a Google Alert
• Don’t be shy to ask organizations or people who posted something concerning  or that you would like taken down to do so. 
• Knowing what’s out there is important, but it’s equally essential to be able to respond
• Don’t overlook reviews from customers of your service or reviews you’ve posted

Additional Resources: